...if you send your N900 in for repair / replacement and they send you back an N8 or an E7, simply refuse to accept it as a replacement if it doesn't do what you want it to.

I got my N900 at the start of 2010 in the EU, so I'm covered by their two-year European Limited Warranty (although their statutory obligations might actually be for a longer period of time, but it gets a lot hazier beyond the warranty expiration date). It started displaying the "telephony functions disabled due to a communications error" failure message, so I sent it off to Nokia's care point people - about 3 weeks ago now.

A week ago, they sent me an N8 as a replacement. When pressed, they offered an E7 and said it ran "the same thing" as an N900. Probably ignorance rather than malfeasance, bless 'em.

Anyway, since neither of those phones do what I bought an N900 for ('apt-get install xchat' doesn't work, for a start!), I refused to accept either as a replacement, and suggested that they honour the guarantee and send me an actual replacement (N900 or N950 or something in the same vein) or offer a refund. If they weren't willing to do either within a commerically reasonable timescale, I suggested, I'd file for the cost of a new N900 in the small claims court.

That was Friday. Today, they're sending me an N900 by courier, which I shall be receiving tomorrow.

It's good when things work out